Lead Me Out of the Dark - Bethyl Music Drabbles and Prompts
by Bethgreenewarriorprincess
Summary: This is the place where I am putting all my music drabbles and prompts for Bethyl. Ratings may vary.
1. Chapter 1

Lead Me Out of the Dark

_I'm lost, please help me find my place, _

_You're the only one, please lead me out of the dark_ – Crown the Empire

He was back in the dream again, the one he found himself trapped in every night when he closed his eyes and all he could see was disappearing tail lights and his beating heart driving away. He had never in his life managed to hold onto anything so he didn't know why now would be any different.

He lost his Momma when he was just a boy, way too young to be without a mother in this world even before it had gone to hell. He lost his dignity and self-worth with his old man's beatings, the belt he took from his pants nightly beating out what his words didn't, each tongue-lashing adding another scar to his heart.

Leaving home, trying to find his place in the world he had lost his direction and done things that he wasn't proud of. He had lost his way in life and it was odd to him that at the end of the world, when everyone else was flailing about trying to find a sure foothold, he had found somewhere he belonged. Somewhere good.

He found family and with that was able to gain back a little bit of respect from others, even if he never would respect himself. He had found friends where in his old life, he had none. It was hard to have friends when you were ashamed of where you came from and couldn't invite them over. Besides the fact that he was afraid his old man would whoop up on any fledgling friendship that may come of it.

He found a home within the circle of people he and Merle had taken up with. He had never thought he would find that in a million years, people who cared about him and people he loved, even if he didn't want to say it out loud. He found a purpose, something to force him to put one foot in front of the other. He turned words like worthless, nobody and nothing to things like hunter, protector and friend.

Then as it was the way of things with Daryl Dixon, he began to lose things again. He lost Sophia after days and nights of looking for. He had never wanted to find someone so much in his entire life. Maybe in finding her, he could right some wrongs. Maybe in finding her he could find the retribution he so desperately needed. But instead in the end, she had come out of the barn, as dead as any of the others streaming out before her. But it had meant something to all of them to find her. And they lost her anyway, leaving in her wake an emptiness and brokenness that even his tattered heart felt though he dealt with it in different ways than the others.

Then they had found a home, after all those long months on the road. Had found a refuge, a safe place to just "be". Life had started to settle into a pattern and he began to think that maybe he could have this. Maybe they could all be happy. Maybe they all got a second chance at life. But he was wrong again. Because they lost that too and with it, one of the wisest men he had ever known and the person that was the closest thing to a father figure he was ever likely to get.

When the prison fell, he had lost his sense of purpose and lost their way time and again trying to track the family they had lost with their home. He was now stuck with a girl he didn't understand, couldn't begin to. Until he did. He started to see that she was hurting too. That it wasn't just him. And she called him out on all of it.

In the middle of the end of the world, in a backwoods Georgia rundown shack, similar to the one he'd been raised in, they had burned down a past together and he had lost some of the demons that had long ago attached themselves to his back and he had felt lighter than he had in a long time.

In the weeks that followed, he began to find something else, something he couldn't put a name to. And he lost something else, he lost _himself_. In her. In her he found a way to go on, a way to heal the brokenness in his soul. She did that for him. He felt he had finally found retribution for a life long list of wrongs because she didn't care about his past. She didn't care where he came from. She cared about the here, the now and the future. The future that she was so damned sure of always with her blind faith. He found that he believed in the goodness in the world again for she was the best he had ever seen. She was the embodiment of any amount of good left in this world.

And he'd like to think that he helped her find some things too. He helped her find her smile again, a kind word, a touch, teaching her to track and hunt. Wrapping her ankle when she hurt it. Carrying her on his back; bearing someone else's burdens instead of his own allowed him to see what he had been missing all along. It was her.

Finally over time he had come to see that with little Beth Greene, he had found love, and he was happy. For the first time in his life, he was truly happy. And he wanted her to know it. Wanted the world to know it, whatever parts of it were left.

And that love, that precious thing he held close to his heart, he was not prepared to lose it. He was not prepared to lose her and his heart with along with it. When he watched those taillights get smaller and smaller in the night, he felt himself shrinking too, but still he ran.

But he figured now without her, his heart was gone. And unless she was with him, he didn't want it back. Without her, it was useless to him, just a bleeding, beating piece of unwanted flesh.

Sitting there at that crossroads, even if it was in his dream, he knew he had lost it all. Had lost everything in the world that had mattered and he didn't even know where to look for it. To look for her. He loved her, god did ever love her. Wished he could have told her before it was too late. As the sun rose in the sky and he pondered his purpose now, he realized he had lost the love of his life. And he was pretty sure if he continued to sit here, he was going to lose his mind as well. And he really wasn't sure he even cared. With all that he had lost, what else was there, but to slip right into the abyss and never look back. Dead walked the earth, seeking to devour the flesh that they craved and as far as he was concerned, they could just go ahead and devour him too. Because really, without her, what was the point?

**Sorry, this is probably about the darkest thing I have ever written for this fandom. But it begged to be written. So there you have it. Hurry up October! **


	2. Chapter 2

Pine for summer

Bborgman gave me this prompt: Daryl and Beth reach Alexandria, only their feeling for one another have been in the air since they reunited all because Daryl has been too stubborn to face it. When Daryl sees someone at the new camp making advances on Beth, Daryl flies off the handle and Beth calls him out just like she always does. Daryl is forced to face his feelings for Beth once and for all. Rated T. Thanks girl for trusting me to write this prompt. You are the BEST and I hope it came out close to what you were asking for.

_You don't want to be my boyfriend_

_And I don't want to be your girl._

_And that, that's a relief_

_We'll Drink up our grief and pine for summer_

_And we'll buy a beer to shot gun_

_And we'll lay in the lawn_

_And we'll be good_

Beth walked up to the table that they had been assigned to once they had finally accessed and reached Alexandria, the only known safe zone in the entire united states. She waited in the short line under the sign marked G-L to register her name in the zone's census. They were trying to establish and maintain an accurate representation of the people now occupying the walls of the city. Maggie and Glenn were waiting under their sign and Rick, Carl and Judy had finally made it through their long registration process and were now standing to the side waiting for the rest of their family to be through with processing and registration.

Beth glanced over to the sign marked A-F where Daryl was waiting, quite impatiently she might add, for his turn to give his details to the clerk. He had moved his thumb up to his mouth, absenting chewing on it. He was always doing that when he didn't have access to a pack of smokes. She had teased him about it yesterday though and he had nearly bit her head off. He was so back and forth since they had finally found each other again. She had been trying to escape from the Atlanta Peacekeepers Society, APS, and he and Carol had been out looking for her.

When she had first seen them, she had hardly believed what her brain was trying so hard to process. She had spent weeks trying to figure out a way back to them, back to him. The conversation in the funeral home was the final piece of the puzzle for Beth. He had been acting differently ever since the shack where she'd had her first drink. That day and night had been a series of firsts for her. She had finally stood up to the brooding and angry Daryl Dixon. She had had her first real breakthrough since they had lost their family. She had never been as angry at anyone as she was that day when Daryl dragged her out of that by her wrist. He hadn't hurt, but he yanking her about and taking his time to kill the walker had incited a fury in her like none she had ever experienced. She had been angry and she and called him out on all his bullshit. Another first for her that night was getting Daryl to open up to her. He had poured out his soul and as he stood there crying, his back turned from her, she had never felt as low or helpless in her entire life except for maybe when she had to stand by and watch as her father was brutally murdered.

But seeing Daryl standing there, so defeated and broken down had been like a shot to her heart. She had hugged him and tried to absorb as much of his pain as possible because it was too heartbreaking to let him carry it all on his own.

Another first for Beth was burning down a house where she had helped Daryl burn down the demons of his past, the flames licking at the memories of his broken childhood. She could trace it all back to that one moment. They had walked away from the fire, somehow irrevocably changed by what had occurred there. It had felt like a fresh start and for the first time since they had left the prison, Beth started to feel hope again.

But since she had been back with the group, Daryl had been hot one moment and cold the next. He had told her he missed her and she had tried to draw him out on everything that had happened. It was so much harder for them now that they were back for everyone. Sometimes she pined for their time they had alone together, replaying all the scenarios until her head hurt. She didn't want to spend all her life pining for that time they spent together last summer.

She had tried to tell him how much she had missed him too and she wanted to talk about things. About things between them. They were either always interrupted or he would tell her that they were wrong to try to do anything about it. The last they had spoken of it had been last night. She had told him that she cared about him and that she wanted to see him happy.

"You wanna make me happy, just leave me be", he had almost spat the words at her and she tried to pretend like the words hadn't stung her worse than if he'd slapped her. Not that Daryl ever would, but sometimes Beth thought Daryl's words could leave the darkest marks.

Right now, his words from last night still left a mark on her heart, bruised but she hid it well.

It was finally her turn at the table. "Hello, welcome to Alexandria. Can I have your name?" The guy at the table seemed to be about her own age. He looked so normal that Beth was a little apprehensive to talk to him. She had thought the people with the peacekeepers when she met them but the longer that she was there, the more she saw how warped their views on a new order society really were.

He stared at her so long, she finally felt obliged to speak. "Elizabeth Greene". She had decided she would drop her middle name. It was so long otherwise, Elizabeth Madeline Greene was a mouthful. She actually wished she had told the guy that her name was just Beth Greene. Simple times for a simpler society.

The guy was staring at her again and self-consciously tucked a strand of her long blonde hair behind her ear. "Did you need something else 'sides my name?" she asked him, a little nervous at the way he was looking at her.

He smiled at her then and she noticed that his eyes were friendly. "Well, is it Elizabeth then?" He said and Beth realized that he was flirting with her.

She smiled back at him, glancing to the left noting that Daryl was watching her. Well, let him watch, she thought. It wasn't like he was being cooperative exactly. She looked back at the guy. "No, it's just Beth," She said. She was only being friendly. She knew how to flirt and she was careful not to draw anything like that into her demeanor.

The guy extended his hand. "Well I'm Jonathan," he said and she smiled back at him as she shook his hand.

"Just Beth, you're very pretty." He said boldly, still grasping her hand, not forcefully really but he wasn't showing any signs of letting it go.

"Well thank you, I um," she said and she flushed then, knowing Daryl was watching her and knowing too that she really didn't want this attention. "I better go," she said, awkwardly trying to withdraw her hand and finally the guy with an exasperated look he it go reluctantly just before Daryl was right on them and in his face.

"Listen here pretty boy, she don't want your hands on her," Daryl was leaning all the way over the table and right in the guy's face before Beth could even think to blink.

"Daryl," she warned from behind him but he showed no signs of moving.

"Sorry, sir I didn't mean any harm," Beth almost felt sorry for the guy but he really had made her feel pretty uncomfortable.

"Yeah, well ya did. Ya best tell her yer sorry," He bellowed and Beth had had it by then.

"Daryl!" she yelled and everyone stopped to look to see what the commotion was all about.

Daryl whipped around and faced her and he looked pissed as she'd ever seen him, but he was always like that when he was angry. "What, Beth, you gonna tell me you wanted him hittin' on ya like that?" He said and it made her so angry she saw red.

"So what if it did? What would you care?" She spit back at him.

Daryl sputtered and if she wasn't so angry she might have laughed so she continued on instead. "You don't get it do you" her voice wasn't loud but it was firm. "It was just me and you all those weeks. You remember." It was a statement.

"We got separated. Separated, Daryl. And we found each other again. In this suck-ass world, I think it's pretty damn amazin' and if you can't see it, well then you're not the man I thought you were," She finally finished and turned back to the guy. "I'm sorry, I'm going to need a minute. I'll be back." She turned on her heel and stalked off to the grove of trees so no one could see just how angry she was. The tears were coming faster and faster as she finally reached the tree line and slipped into the woods, needing some time to clear her head.

"Beth," she heard him right behind her as she was hiccupping, trying to stop the flow of tears and tamp down the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm her right now. They had finally reached the safe zone and all she wanted in the world was to be with the man she loved. Only he was too stupid to realize that what they had was something really special.

She turned to face him and she knew she was a mess, her face lined with snot and probably dirt mixing in too. He reached into his pocket and got the bandana he often carried back there and wordlessly handed to her. In their time on their own, he had done it often. And just as often as he'd handed her that bandana, he'd take her in his arms and let her cry it out. Only now, she didn't feel comfortable stepping into his embrace and he didn't offer. She mopped at her face with the fabric, wishing she could disappear behind it forever. Ridiculous thought in this moment, but it's how scrambled her thoughts actually felt.

"''M sorry, okay," His voice was low and if it weren't for the fact that they were in the woods away from everyone, she probably wouldn't have heard him.

"For which part," she looked at him then, sniffing back tears. "Just today or everythin'".

""M sorry for everythin', Beth. 'M sorry I acted like that back there and sorry I haven't told you everythin'. I should have. I know it now. If I tell you, will you promise to think 'bout forgivin' me?" He asked her and she looked at him, nodding and thinking that whatever he was going to say was going to change everything. She hoped it was for the better because she didn't know how much more her heart could take.

He placed his hand gently on her shoulder and guided her over to a fallen log and they both sat down. The first signs of spring were making themselves known and the earth here smelled fresh and damp.

"I lied. Leavin' me alone ain't gonna be the thing that makes me happy." He said and looked at her. Her ankles were crossed in front of her and she had her hands braced on the log on either side of her and she was watching him intently.

"It's not?" She sniffed again, wishing for once she could get a reign on the stupid female hormones that controlled her life so much of the time.

Daryl shook his head and reached out to brush a tear away from her eyes with his thumb. "The only thing that's gonna make me happy is to be with you. Hearin' you say it back there. I don't know why I've been so stupid. I told you back at that shack that I wasn't afraid of nothin'." He said and Beth felt like this was it, this was the turning point.

She nodded, she remembered it all too well, his face had been mere inches away from hers. "I remember."

"I lied then too. I am afraid. I'm afraid of this. I'm afraid of us. And more than anythin', I'm afraid of losin' you again." He looked at her and Beth started crying again. It was everything she had wanted him to say. It was more than she had ever expected him to.

"So what are you sayin' then?" she said, her breath merely a whisper at this point, half afraid that he was going to change his mind or vanish into thin air. "Are you sayin' that you'll give this a chance? Give us a chance?"

He nodded. "I'm sayin' that if you'll have me, it's the only thing I want. It's all I'll ever want." She saw him struggling but she had to hear it so she just listened. "You, Beth, you're all I will ever want. I'm sorry it took me so long to say this to ya. I love ya, Beth." He said and looked at her uncertainly and she didn't see Daryl, the man, sitting before her, she saw the boy who had been rejected, the boy who had been beaten, the boy who had grown up in a world too harsh and been thrust into one too cruel for human-kind.

"I love you too," those were the only words that were needed. Those three words said it all. They said that you wanted to be together. That you'd stick together until the end. That nothing would stand in the way of that love. In this world it said so much more than it did in their old one.

She thought then of all the firsts she had shared with this crazy beautiful man and she wanted to share them all with him. There was one that he could make happen in the here and now but if she waited on him to make the first move, she knew it'd take far too long for her liking. She knew from experience, after all.

She'd had kisses before, but none of them had felt real. She wanted her first real kiss and all the ones that followed to be with him and him only.

"Kiss me Daryl," she said bravely and she waited for it. Waited for him to bolt and run but he didn't. Instead he faced her and squared his shoulders and then did the same to hers. It was all really cute how awkwardly he did it.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and he leaned forward and she met him half way, their lips meeting hesitantly, tenderly, until Beth sighed and her lips parted involuntarily and he slipped his tongue inside her mouth, tangling with hers and suddenly, all tenderness was gone as he removed his hands from her shoulders, sliding them through her hair and gripping her head and pulling her towards him, angling his head for better access to her mouth. He finally slowed the kiss down, the pace diminishing until it was just soft sweet mere brushes of their lips together. Beth's heart had long since stopped beating she figured and just hovered in her chest waiting to restart and her face was flushed, eyes feeling heavy and she felt the unmistakable signs of arousal. She wanted him. She knew there was another first she wanted to share with him but not here. Not in this place and probably not even tonight. She'd have to take baby steps with him; knew it without a shadow of a doubt. But she also knew that she was a Greene. She'd eventually get her way.

They pulled apart finally and he took the hand closest to her and laced their fingers together, bringing her hand up to his lips, placing a soft kiss to the back of her hand. He rested their hands in his lap.

"It's too quiet," she said and they both started laughing. When their laughter already died down, they looked at one another.

"That was the best kiss I've ever had," she said and she meant it.

She grinned as she saw him blushing under her complement. "It's a complement Daryl."

He looked at her for a long moment, his eyes meeting hers and she saw it all. Everything that he felt. "I didn't know if I was doing it right but I've been wanting to do that forever." He admitted finally.

"How long?" This was news and she couldn't wait to see at what point he'd become attracted to her enough to want that.

"I figure it was when you told me we should burn that shithole house down." He said. She looked at him, completely surprised, but secretly pleased because in her moonshine haze she had wanted the same thing.

"I was too chicken to do it. And look it too you askin' me for me to be able ta." He looked at her shyly then.

"So you're sayin' if I want somethin' from this relationship, all I gotta do is ask ya? And you'll go along with it?" She asked him, smiling at him coyly. "That's an awful lot of power in one relationship don'tcha think?" She was teasing him and she loved it because he was letting her.

He grinned and nodded at her and then his eyes went dark again. "I can handle it," He said and flashed her a confident smirk, the first that she'd seen in him and she raised her eyebrows. So this was a relationship then and he had just admitted it. It emboldened her to broach the next subject with him.

"Okay then, that kiss was my first real kiss," She said looking at him, almost daring him to challenge her. His eyes were wide and she nodded. "Zach and Jimmy….those weren't real kisses. This with you was a first. And there's another first I want to do with you." She stared at him pointedly, not breaking eye contact because she needed him to know exactly what it was she wanted.

Daryl looked at her sharply and his eyes had suddenly transformed, deep sapphire pools of lust, the blue nearly faded out by the black. Maybe she wouldn't have to push as hard as she thought on that subject, she thought and her eyes went wide and her mouth went dry all at the same time.

"Are you askin'?" Daryl said smirking at her.

She nodded unable to speak and he leaned back in and kissed her again, this time more passionate, deeper and hotter than the last time, tongues tangling, lips nipping and sucking, until her legs were wobbly and her breath was coming in fast heavy pants. He pulled away, looking very pleased with himself.

"Does that answer your question?" He asked, an extremely smug look on his face.

Beth just nodded and leaned back in to kiss him again. It was all the answer she needed.

Be sure and tell me how I did you guys! Xoxoxoxo


	3. Chapter 3

WARNING: This music drabble deals very heavily with death and suicide. If this is a trigger, please don't read it.

Whiskey Lullaby

_She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger_

_And finally drank away his memory_

_Life is short but this time it was bigger_

_Than the strength she had to get up off her knees_

_We found her with her face down in the pillow_

_Clinging to his picture for dear life_

_We laid her next to him beneath the willow_

_The angels sang a whiskey lullaby_

Beth finally reached the cabin and hoisted the crossbow off her shoulder and set it inside the door of the cabin. She had only brought it as a precaution. She didn't want to get killed by a group of walkers before she had a chance to properly mourn him in private. She still couldn't believe he was gone. It had been unthinkable. Sure, she always worried about him when he was gone on runs, but somewhere deep down she always knew he'd come back to her, just like he said.

So when Rick, Tyreese, Maggie and Glenn had come back from their run the day before, she had been unable to believe that he was not with them.

"Where is he?" she'd said. "He finally find another bike? He's been complainin' ever since he lost his other one." She laughed a little and then noticed their faces. They'd all been crying, Maggie especially. She had walked over to her and Beth had just backed away, shaking her head furiously. The tears hadn't come. She had expected them too, but they didn't. She was so damned angry that he was gone. That the world had taken him away from her. The first tears hadn't even come until she finally gained the courage to walk out to where they had laid him under the weeping willow tree outside the house they had holed up in for the past several weeks.

She figured if she waited just long enough, he'd come sauntering back in, bow on his back and smirk on his face, just for her, asking her "Did ya miss me, Greene?" But it never happened.

They all watched her. Waited for her to break down but it didn't happen until she went out there. As she finally got to his side, saw where he lay, broken, battered, the tears started to fall. She didn't think they had stopped since. She had sunk down to her knees, sobbing, the pain in her heart too much to bear, weighing her down and wishing it would suck her right down into the earth. She had lain over his body, knowing it was the last time she would ever be able to do so. And even if it was macabre, she wished she could lay there forever. But they finally pulled her away, Maggie and Rick; she had heard herself but it didn't sound like her. It was primal, animal-like this despair that had overcome her. Sadness couldn't describe it. Anguish didn't come close. Empty. That was it. Just cold and empty. Numb.

She walked over to the kitchen cabinet in the cabin and pulled out the bottle of whiskey they had been saving. This had been her and Daryl's spot to come and get away. They had spent countless stolen hours here, leeching every minute out of every hour they spent there, soaking up each other's presence. She could feel him in every single board of this ramshackle cabin. She felt him in the air, could still smell his scent on the pillow she now clung to as she sunk onto the floor against the far wall of the front room. She couldn't bear to lay in the bed where they had lain. Couldn't bear to think that he would never again hold her in his arms.

She opened the bottle of whiskey and thought about her father then. What he might think about what she was about to do. She decided that he wasn't here, so it didn't really much matter. She turned the bottle up and gulped down as much as she could swallow, hoping it would give her the courage to do what she needed to do.

That reminded her of first drink. It had been with Daryl, before they had reunited with everyone. Before she'd been separated from them all. At the time, she had thought that was the worst thing imaginable; being separated from the ones she loved, especially Daryl. She was wrong.

While she was gone, she'd had time to think about everything and what he had said to her just before she'd been taken away from him. She knew, in his own way, he was trying to tell her so much more than she had changed his way of thinking about things. He'd later told her she'd changed him. And he wanted to be beside her for the rest of their lives, if she'd have him.

The rest of their lives, she thought bitterly, and the tears came again. This was it. The end of the line for her. He'd reached his end and now she was ready to go too. On her terms. She remembered saying that to Maggie back before she had decided to live. She didn't regret the decision she'd made that day and she knew she wouldn't regret the one she was making now. She took another long swallow of the amber liquid, wincing as it hit her throat, feeling the burn, but welcoming the pain. Any feeling other than this aching numbness was welcomed.

_When you love someone, hurt is kind of part of the package_

Those words spoken so long ago were now coming back to haunt her, words spoken in a time of hope no longer applied. She had lost all hope when she'd buried the man she loved more than life itself. Loving him was the best part of her life. Loving him had been like a summer rain, welcome after a dry spell, quenching the heat for a moment, steam rising up off the pavement in its wake. Loving him had been her greatest joy. In him she had found a friend. In him, she had found a lover. In him, she had found a soul mate. And it had been everything. She finished the contents of the whiskey and waited for the effects to take over her.

If loving him had been everything, losing him was too. She had lost everything that had ever mattered to her. She had lost every bit of _herself_ that mattered. Buried it right along with him and all they represented. She had nothing left but a few notes he'd written her, promises from him for time together, that he loved her. That he'd never leave her. Except he did. He was gone and she didn't want to go on.

_You're going to be the last man standing. _

She hated herself for saying those words to him. She felt like she'd inadvertently sealed his fate with that statement and if she could take it back, she would. She had told him that he was meant for the way the world was now, but she'd been wrong. No one was made for this world now. Too harsh, too cold. Just a sea of dead roaming the earth, devouring the flesh they could find. And those left in the world, the ones who weren't good, they were worse, devouring trust, devouring humanity, devouring lives, until all hope was gone.

_Pretty soon, I won't need you at all. _

More words to regret. More words she couldn't take back. _I do need you Daryl_, she thought. I do.

She scrawled out a quick note, nothing fancy.

"_I'm sorry. Without him, all hope is gone. Please forgive me." Love, Beth_

She didn't want to be in a world without Daryl in it. Her decision made, she picked up the handgun and whispered into the dark of the night, "I tried, but I can't. I love you." She placed the gun to her head and in a final moment of clarity pulled the trigger.

* * *

Rick heard it just yards away from the house. She hadn't been gone long, Maggie had said she'd gone off to hunt. Maggie had thought nothing of it; Beth was prone to going out to hunt even without Daryl sometimes. He'd shown her how to track and she had gotten really good at it.

Daryl had told him about the place a couple weeks back; he'd said just in case and looked at him and Rick knew, as soon as Maggie told him that Beth had gone into the woods, that she was coming out here. Knew it was their special place, a place for the two of them to just unwind and decompress from their everyday lives.

He didn't know why he started to run as soon as he heard the shot, but he took off in a sprint, running as fast as his legs would carry him until he reached the door. He braced himself. He knew in light of recent circumstances that it was too much to hope that she'd had to fell a walker in there.

He opened the door and even though he had tried to prepare himself for it, it had done nothing to cushion the blow of seeing her laying there, the gun having fallen off into the floor, and he tried real hard not took at the all the blood spattered everywhere. He went over to her and sat down on the floor beside her lifeless body, pulling her into his lap, running his coarse hand over her hair, sticky now with her blood.

She was family to him and he felt her loss just as much as he did everyone else's maybe more because of Judy. He knew why she'd done it. What he didn't know was why it was even necessary anymore to question people's motives. He didn't know he was crying until he saw the teardrops falling onto the note that she had left.

_Forgive her?_ There was nothing to forgive in Rick's mind. In this world, they'd all done the worst kinds of things to stay alive. He figured she'd just done what she had to do to die. She didn't want to be in a world without him in it. Hell, he didn't figure he did either, but he had Judy and Carl to think about now. It wouldn't be an option for him.

They'd once just asked for a chance to live from someone. Someone who wanted to take the choice from them. They'd asked for just a chance to try. Try to survive. Try to live. Try for as long as they could. Until they couldn't. He figured that was where Beth was at when she pulled the trigger. She tried as long as she could until she just couldn't. He didn't begrudge her that.

They laid her under the weeping willow, dug up his grave. They'd argued about it. Some said it was too morbid, that the dead shouldn't be disturbed. Maggie had finally spoken up, her silence finally broken after the past six hours.

"It's what they both would have wanted. The old rules don't apply anymore. They loved each other. They should have their final rest together."

And so it was. Rick stood there over their combined grave. They were leaving today. No one wanted to stay there after all that had happened. Daryl was gone. Beth was gone. It was time for them to move on. It was the way of the world now.

He looked at the makeshift tombstone that they had made for them. An old board from their cabin, with the words painstakingly carved into the wood:

_Daryl and Beth Dixon_

_Love Everlasting_

* * *

**I cried while writing this. Had to stop several times because I could not see the screen or the keys. This was the hardest and saddest thing that I have ever written, but I did it because the world just lost someone really special. This is dedicated to another Beth. _You were a beautiful person inside and out and the world will not be the same without you in it. _**

**Special thanks to jazznmoke for the song idea. It was pretty much perfect. Ly girl. You're my bae. So thanks for the song and for being here for me when I'm a sobbing mess. Thank you too to PrincessPears. Girl, you just get me. **


	4. Chapter 4

It's All Fun and Games

Song prompt given to me by jazznsmoke, my bae! Set to the song Animals by Nickelback

_You're beside me on the seat  
Got your hand between my knees  
And you control how fast we go by just how hard you wanna squeeze  
It's hard to steer when you're breathing in my ear  
But I got both hands on the wheel while you got both hands on my gears  
By now, no doubt that we were heading south  
I guess nobody ever taught her not to speak with a full mouth  
'Cause this was it, like flicking on a switch  
It felt so good I almost drove into the ditch  
I'm screamin'_

_[CHORUS]__No, we're never gonna quit__  
__Ain't nothing wrong with it__  
__Just acting like we're animals__  
__No, no matter where we go__  
__'Cause everybody knows__  
__We're just a couple of animals_

Beth climbed the rest of the way out of her window and climbed out onto the trellis at the side of the house where her room was. She paused for a moment, certain she could hear her Daddy's footsteps outside her door, finally deciding that it was her imagination. She shimmied her way down the trellis, taking care to place her feet carefully in each slat until she reached the bottom. She retrieved her shoes from where she had thrown them and took off running towards the small copse of apple trees near the mail box where Daryl's car was waiting.

"Hey, baby," she crooned as she hopped into the car and placed a quick wet kiss to Daryl's lips.

Daryl reached over and placed his hand on her thigh and Beth could feel his warm callused fingertips on her skin, making her want him to move his fingers just a little higher and skim his way up to where she could already feel the wetness gathering. "Hey yerself beautiful," his voice reminded her of tires on gravel, the slow kind, not like the way they were blazing up the gravel driveway, kicking up dust in their wake.

Beth wasn't supposed to be out this late at night. She wasn't supposed to be out at all and especially not with Daryl. She had been seeing him for months now and if her Daddy found out, he'd skin both their hides.

But she and Daryl had this routine. She snuck out every night she could so she could be with him. Beth was 17 and he was 20 and her parents didn't approve of her dating really much less dating an older guy. Beth didn't need a reminder that Daryl was a man, not a boy. He reminded her of that every single time he expertly brought her to orgasm. His tongue, his fingers, his cock; he was equally talented in all those areas, she thought as she slid her hand up his thigh and grinned at him.

Daryl sped up as they got to the end of the gravel driveway, peeling out as they reached the two lane highway that would take them away from town and to the spot they liked to go park. He loved this time with Beth. That was actually understatement, he lived for this time with her. He looked over at her and smirked when he felt her fingers creeping up his leg, edging closer and closer to his already throbbing hard cock. He didn't know what it was about this girl but he could never get enough of her. Never get enough of her lips, of her body, of her pussy. He couldn't wait to get where they were going so he could prove to her how much he worshipped her.

"Whatcha doin there baby?" Daryl kept his eyes on the road and his hands at 2 and 10 but his mind was definitely not on driving. Thank god he drove this road at least 6 times a day and knew it like the back of his hand, he thought as Beth finally reached the place where his cock was pressing painfully against his zipper. She cupped him with her palm and rubbed her thumb over his clothed erection and he groaned.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She looked at him, her eyes clearly twinkling in the dim lighting of the car. He loved when she was in playful mood like this, which was pretty much all the time. He didn't know how he got so lucky. He loved her more than life itself. It was just a bonus to him that she enjoyed sex as much as he did.

He gasped as he felt her nails graze lightly over the fabric as she deftly undid the button on his jeans and slid the zipper down slowly.

As Beth undid his zipper, she smiled smugly as his already engorged cock sprung free of his jeans. Beth took his length in her hand and gripped him, pulling her hand in an upward motion and then slding her hand back downward towards the base, skin sliding against skin and she heard him hiss between his teeth.

"You like that don't you baby? You like me playing with your cock?" Beth crooned and she was not disappointed when his dick twitched in her palm and got even harder.

"I like everythin' ya do to me Beth." Daryl's voice was low and raspy and Beth could feel his breath on her neck as she nuzzled against him, spreading slow kisses down his neck and just under the collar of his shirt. He was wearing his typical attire, worn and torn jeans and a flannel shirt with the sleeves cut off, his biceps bulging. Beth moved her lips lower while she continued to hand-fuck his dick, stopping momentarily to kiss her way down his happy trail. She finally reached his throbbing, hot member, pre-cum spread over the surface by her own fingers and she moved her lips over him, letting her breath hover over him and feeling him twitch in her palm. She looked up at him and locked eyes, her gaze intense and she flashed him a devilish grin before she took his rock-hard cock into her mouth, swirling her tongue around the head and pressing softly on the underside where she knew he liked it the best. She moved one hand down to cup his balls, gripping the base of his dick with the other hand and moving her mouth up and down, lips tucked, tongue circling and gently sucking. Daryl moaned her name then, "Beth," and she slowed her movements before finally removing her mouth from his cock with a resounding pop.

Daryl thought he might die before he finally got the car parked deep in the Georgia woods right by the lack where they usually went skinny-dipping. Had just last week in fact. As soon as he parked, Beth removed her lips from his dick and he groaned at the missed contact. He had been pretty close but he wouldn't have let himself come any more than Beth would have. He knew he'd need to get her off a couple of times before she'd be ready and then he'd have to fuck her senseless before she was well and truly satisfied. He loved that she had that big an appetite for him. He loved that she needed to come undone a few times a night. More than anything, he loved that he got to be the one to do it. Because there were few pleasures greater in life than watching little Beth Greene fall apart beneath him.

He reached between the door and his seat and kicked his seat all the way back, shimmying his pants down to the floorboard of the car, kicking his shoes off in the process. Beth was on him in an instant straddling him and positioned on his lap, her skirt riding up around her hips. He reached around and cupped her ass in both palms, pulling her closer to him, feeling just that thin barrier of her impossibly small thongs aligned with his now nearly painfully engorged cock. Daryl looked up at her, threading his fingers through her hair as he pulled her to him, her lips meeting his and he immediately darted his tongue out, teasing the seam of her lips as his hands reached between them, pushing the fabric of her panties aside and sliding one finger into her dripping wet pussy. Beth moaned into his mouth and he swallowed her cries with one of his own as she ground her hips down onto him, the only thing standing between them, those damnable panties. He loved them, they were sexy as fuck but it sure would do some good on nights like this for her to wear nothing at all under her hot little skirts.

Beth cried out as Daryl pushed yet another finger inside her, pumping them in and out rapidly. He removed one finger from her hot wet center, sliding his thumb over her clit. He applied light pressure while his thumb kept up a furious rhythm. She felt herself beginning to spiral, the delicious edges of an orgasm creeping their way into the base of her spine. In one deft movement, Daryl pushed her panties all the way aside and grasped his cock thrusting inside of her, filling her completely. She felt the waves coming then and she screamed "Daryl!" as her release found her and leaving her a quivering, shaking bundle. She leaned down and sealed her lips over his, her kiss a thank you and a promise that his time was coming.

Daryl smiled up at her then as she finally opened her eyes. He loved the feel of her coming around his dick. She then began bouncing herself up and down on top of him, spearing herself with him even further on each thrust.

Beth looked down at him from her angle and she loved being with him like this. She reached up and pushed her shirt up, feeling the material bunch, leaving her bare since she had decided not to wear a bra tonight. Daryl's eyes narrowed as her breasts came into his view and he leaned up, carefully to keep his cock deeply seated inside her and brought his lips to one breast, tongue swirling around her nipple and sucking softly making her throw her head back again. He reached between them and flicked his finger over her clit, rubbing lightly at first and then harder and harder until she virtually saw stars.

Daryl watched her lazily, enjoying how she gave herself over to the pleasure, ,feeling it, reveling in it. Just as he felt her thrusting herself up and down again and again, he reached down to get her off again and as she came around his cock, squeezing him rhythmically, he felt his own release coming. He edged closer and closer and he cried out as he slipped right over, the waves traveling down his spine and spreading chills over his body, leaving every muscle quivering.

Beth collapsed against him as her orgasm finished spinning itself out and she sighed against his chest, finally pulling back to look up at him. "Thank god I got on the pill huh?" she grinned at him.

"You ain't kiddin'. Makes it so much easier." He looked at her then and really wanted nothing more than to be in a bed cuddled under a blanket for the part he loved almost as much as the sex itself. There was just something real special about holding Beth after they made love. No matter how much it seemed like sex to him or her, they knew what it was because they loved each other.

"What was that?" Beth looked up suddenly and glanced out the window. There was a bright light shining in the window and she gasped.

"Daddy?" She saw the form outside the window but she couldn't see well because she was being blinded by the beam of a flashlight.

A deep voice bellowed "Bethie, you better get your ass back home!" She saw the figure come into view and it separated into two.

"Maggie!" Beth moved to cover herself, pulling her shirt back down. Her sister and her stupid boyfriend Glenn must have followed them. Beth groaned. "Maggie go away".

There was lots of giggling and guffawing before the flashlight was shut off and they came up to the window, Maggie tilting her head to the side and sticking out her tongue.

"I knew it!" Maggie said victoriously, glancing into the car unabashedly.

Beth swore sometimes her sister had no scruples whatsoever. "You don't know anythin' Margaret Greene".

"Aww, come on Bethie, we were just playin'." Maggie pouted.

"Really we were Beth," Glenn insisted.

"Can y'all talk about this after we get our clothes back on?" Daryl said and they all laughed.

Beth thanked her lucky stars that it wasn't really her dad because if it was, she knew she'd be sent away to live with nuns until she was 30. Still, can't a girl get any privacy?

She looked at Daryl as they pulled their clothes back on. "I love you, baby," Beth said leaning over to press a quick kiss to his lips.

"I love you too, Princess. I must. I put up with that crazy sister of yers, don't I?" He said, grinning at her. As much of a pain in the ass as she was, he liked Maggie.

"Well you better, because I sure put up with a lot from your brother." Beth smiled sweetly at him. She and Merle had a great relationship. Sometimes he thought Merle treated her more like a sibling than he did Daryl.

Daryl chuckled then, knowing what she said was true.

"I wish Maggie wouldn'ta found us," Beth pouted.

"Why? I mean other than the obvious?" Daryl asked.

She looked up at him, giving him that hundred watt smile again, "Because I had plans for you tonight. Big plans". She wiggled her eyebrows at him as she smoothed her skirt back down over her legs, once again respectable looking.

"Plans huh. What kind?" He smirked at her. He couldn't imagine what she had planned. They had done about all that there was to do sexually.

"Next time, baby, next time." She promised. Beth giggled and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "Let's go see what was so important that they had to interrupt us." She said as she opened the door.

As Daryl followed after her over to the edge of the lake where Maggie and Glenn waited, he thought he was the luckiest guy in the world. Because he had Beth Greene. She was his and he was hers and that was all that mattered in the world.

* * *

**This prompt was given to me by my girl jazznsmoke. Thanks girl for entrusting me with this. Hope it lived up to your expectations! ;)**


	5. Play it Again

Play It Again

**This song was given to me by my great friend jazznsmoke. Play it Again by Luke Bryan. Ya'll are gonna love this. **

_She was sittin' all alone over on the tailgate__  
__Tan legs swingin' by a Georgia plate__  
__I was lookin' for her boyfriend__  
__Thinkin', no way she ain't got one__  
__Soon as I sat down I was fallin' in love__  
__Tryin' to pour a little sugar in her Dixie cup__  
__Talkin' over the speakers in the back of that truck__  
__She jumped up and cut me off___

_She was like, oh my God, this is my song__  
__I've been listenin' to the radio all night long__  
__Sittin' 'round waitin' for it to come on and here it is__  
__She was like, come here boy, I wanna dance__  
__'Fore I said a word, she was takin' my hand__  
__Spinnin' me around 'til it faded out__  
__And she gave me a kiss__  
__And she said, play it again, play it again, play it again__  
__And I said, play it again, play it again, play it again_

Daryl begrudgingly pulled the wet clothes from the washer and transferred them over to the drier at the Wash-N-Fold. He had been dreading coming ever since he woke up but figured he had nothing better to do on a Saturday night than do his laundry and thought he may as well get it over with. It was just always so fucking hot in there that he felt like he had arrived in the fourth circle of hell, as if just being there wasn't bad enough already.

He deposited the correct amount of coins, thinking of all the things he could spend those quarters on if he didn't find it important enough to have clean clothes. There was a time in his life that he hadn't cared about such things but since he had cut ties with his old drinking buddies he had cleaned up his life. He even had a real honest-to-God job, one that he was pretty proud of. He was working as a construction foreman for an up and coming company in Atlanta. He was in charge of bidding on jobs as they came around and he usually bid just low enough to be competitive and land the job. He had started there a year ago as a worker and worked his way up the ladder to the position he was in now. His men respected him because he didn't treat them any different than he would anyone else. It also went a long way that he didn't mind getting his hands dirty and worked right alongside with them when he wasn't busy on the phone tying up loose ends.

He walked back out of the Laundromat, finding it hard to believe that it was cooler outside on a sultry Georgia summer evening than it was inside the place. As he walked to his truck to sit and wait he passed by a truck with the tailgate down and a pretty blonde woman perched on the back of it singing along to whatever new popular country western song was blaring out of her truck windows. Her hair was pulled back from her face but hung in waves down her back. She was petite but had the longest legs he'd ever seen on a girl, lithe and slightly sun-kissed from the long summer days, swinging back and forth over the tailgate in time to the music.

"Hi," she said, her voice all sweetness and summer as she smiled at him.

He wanted to smile back at her but failed miserably at his attempt. He was surprised he could speak back at all. "Hey." Daryl's face burned as he walked by her. She had gone out of her way to speak to him and here he was, just walking on to his truck.

She was something to look at that; that was for sure. He didn't think he'd ever seen anyone as pretty as her in a long while, maybe even ever. He continued walking to his truck, leaned on the tail of it as he lit up a cigarette. He'd been trying to quit for the last two weeks so he knew this cigarette was going to be the last one of the night. He pulled the first drag off of it, pulling the smoke into the back of his throat, relishing the burn and inhaled deeply, feeling the perpetual knot in his stomach ease just a bit.

He glanced to his left seeing that she was still sitting there in her truck, leaning back and looking up at the sky. She had an almost airy quality about her, like if he were to touch her she might disappear. Damn Dixon, what the fuck is wrong with you. She's probably got a boyfriend anyway, he told himself. He looked around for evidence of him but there wasn't anyone but them in the gravel parking lot outside the place. It was not exactly a hot spot and on a Saturday night, most folks on town could be found over at Greene's. He hadn't lived her all that long and since he was a recent recovering alcoholic he had never set foot in the place, not yet trusting himself around such temptation.

As he looked at the girl, he decided she was temptation of a different kind. He was drawn to her in a way that he couldn't quite explain. In a way that had never really happened to him before.

Before he could lose his nerve or she up and drove off, he tamped out his cigarette and winced when he realized that it wasn't quite finished. He uncrossed his ankles and pushed himself off the back of the truck and walked back over to where she was still singing and swinging those long legs. She had a really beautiful voice and he found that he wished he'd hung back a bit to listen before he approached her but she caught his movement and turned to look at him as he came toward her. A huge grin broke out on her face when their eyes met. Surely that bright as sunshine smile could not be directed at him.

Beth had seen him walk by earlier and he was about the sexiest man she'd ever seen. He was cute too how he'd blushed when she had said hi to him. She'd just moved back to the area after college. She'd spent two years away at university and her major just had not agreed with her so she'd decided to take a year off and move back home. The only difference was that when she came back, she didn't want to live with her mama and daddy. She'd been on her own far too long to try to fit back into a household where the rules were so strict they were suffocating. Even though she was not a girl of eighteen anymore, they still considered her a baby and treated her as such.

Sometimes she wished she was older like Maggie who really had her act together at the age of 26. She was a successful business owner. She had bought Otis out a couple years ago and changed the name of the place. Everyone had complained at first but it turned out to be the best decision because it was the most popular place in town, playing some favorite local bands and Beth herself had a guest night coming up. She had decided to take this next year to see if she was really serious about having a career in music.

"Hey" Daryl said. Great Dixon, she's gonna think that's the only line you got. The worst part was that it just might be. Daryl had his hands shoved down deep into his pockets because otherwise he'd do something like fidget.

"Hi there, I'm Beth." She smiled warmly at him and nodded her head at the seat next to her.

He was forced to remove his hands from his pockets and he sat down without thinking too much about why she had asked him.

She looked at him pointedly and giggled. "And you are," she looked at him pointedly.

He grinned sheepishly, casting his eyes down a moment and then looked back up at her. "My name's Daryl." He didn't know whether he was supposed to extend his hand or not. It didn't seem like that kind of moment.

"Pleased to meet ya Daryl." She drawled. "So you live around here then?" She nodded her head towards the main part of town.

He nodded his ascent, "Yeah, live over on-" but he didn't get to finish his sentence as she sat up straighter.

She all the sudden jumped down from the tailgate and turned around to look at him, her eyes wide and bright, looking like a kid on Christmas. "Oh my god, this is my _song_!" She exclaimed and held her hand out to him. "Come dance with me." Her eyes danced with her request and he hesitated even though his palm was twitching to take hers.

She rolled her eyes at him a little impatiently and she stalked back over to him and took his hand, dragging him over to the grassy area just beyond her truck. She pulled on him and he was surprised by her strength. Once she took hold of his hand, he lost all thought of why he had not wanted to dance with her. It allowed him to touch her and that was just downright magical in his eyes. Her skin was soft where his was callused and work-worn. All this was realized in the space of the three seconds as she started swishing her hips back and forth in time to the music.

He mouthed the words when she looked at him questioningly, still singing to the top of her lungs. "I can't dance," but she just shook her head at him and came over and took his hands into hers and placed them on her hips then put her own soft hands on his hips.

"Now do what I do." She said and his mouth went dry as he was caught in her spell. She was so beautiful and passionate. She had fire where he was ice. She had softness where he was coarse. She had liveliness where he was reserved.

He was caught up in her and she finally looked up at his face as he sort of got the hang of what she was wanting him to do. All too soon the song was over and the next song that came on was a slow one. She didn't make a move to go back where they were sitting so he didn't either.

She looked up at him questioningly. She had just dragged him out onto their substitute dance floor for one dance. Dare she ask for another?

"This yer song too?" he quirked his eyebrows at her and smirked a little. Something about her gave him the courage to do something he had never done before. He flirted.

She giggled and looked at him for a minute and looped her arms up around his neck, pressing herself closer to him. "Maybe", she said saucily. She made the transition from schoolgirl to temptress in such a seamless manner it made his head spin with how perfect she was.

They stood there dancing and looking into each other's eyes and he was lost in those deep sapphire pools staring back at him. As the song ended finally, he didn't know what to do only that he didn't want to let her go. He moved his eyes down to her lips at the same moment she stood on tiptoes and pressed her lips to his, her fingers coming down to grip his shirt between them.

She pulled away slightly and he didn't think, he just _did_. He moved his hands from where they had glued themselves to her hips and looped his thumb into one belt loop on each side of her tiny denim shorts and pulled her closer, while bending his head down to reclaim her lips.

Daryl possessed her lips in such a way that she felt like she'd been meant to kiss this impossibly sweet man. He was so shy it was downright adorable, yet right now his lips told a different tale. He kissed her softly at first as she opened her mouth readily against the slightly probing of his tongue then as he reached up to cup her face in his palms, his kisses become hungrier, before edging off and finally kissing her achingly slow before breaking it back off, sliding his hands down to her shoulders to ease her back down to the ground.

Beth looked up at him and she looked just like she'd been thoroughly kissed and he couldn't help the little swell of pride he felt in looking at her slightly swollen lips. She slid her fingers down his chest and grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together as they went back over to her truck.

"Daryl, where you been all my life?" She said, her southern accent drawing out the last word as they sat down.

"Pfft" He couldn't form a coherent response any more at that than he could have if she'd just asked him the time. He shrugged his shoulder as he looked down and toed the gravel with his boot before he finally looked back up at her. "Probably a mite bit older 'an you." She shrugged again and smiled at her.

She rolled her eyes and dropped her head to the side. "Oh come on, what are you like 30?" She pulled on his hand teasingly.

He looked into those baby blues of hers and saw that she was sincere. Still he couldn't help the derisive snort that slipped out. "Try addin' 'bout 5 years." Maybe it meant something that she didn't think he was just some old as dirt redneck. He was still a redneck, but maybe he could shed the _old_ part.

She looked at him, clearly outraged by this news. "No way," she shook her head. "I'm gonna need to see some proof." She looked at him prissily like she actually expected him to get his license out.

"How old are you?" He said, thoroughly enjoying this exchange as he couldn't seem to wipe the smile off his face.

She smiled at him demurely. "How old you think I am?"

She didn't play around that was for sure. "Well you look all of 16, but ya also look like ya've lived a little, so I don't know." He shrugged his shoulders.

She giggled and relented. He looked so miserable and probably thought she was offended. She had long since gotten used to people thinking she was younger than she really was. She blamed good genes. "I'm 20."

He was sitting there and for the life of him he couldn't think of one damn thing to say that wouldn't make him sound like he was tripping over his words.

She came to his rescue. "Daryl, you got a last name?"

"Dixon." He looked at her sideways, trying to figure out why she was so interested in him. Wasn't anybody ever paid him that much attention.

"Daryl Dixon." She tested the name on her lips and he found he liked watching her say it. Just in the way she said it, the way her lips formed a half 'o' when she spoke his first name did something to him.

"What's your last name?" He traced his thumb over the back of her hand.

"Greene. Beth Greene." She smiled at him a little shyly then and he was just enchanted with her. She was such a chameleon with how she was feeling in any given moment.

He looked up at the sudden change in brightness outside to notice that they were shutting off the lights inside the Laundromat, leaving him to wonder just how long they had sat here talking about nothing and everything.

He jumped up, pulling her after him as they both raced to get their clothes from the driers before they were locked out. They were laughing and dropping articles of clothing everywhere. He carried her baskets out for her and ran back in for his own.

When he got back inside he noticed it was 9:00 p.m. He hoped it wasn't too late, but he had a sudden thought and made a quick call and gathered the rest of his stuff, heading back out to where she was sitting back on her tailgate like she was just waiting for him. He jogged past her, smiling all the while, to place his items in his truck and was back to her side in record time. She handed him a bottle of water as he sat down beside her, slightly out of breath.

He looked up in surprise. "Thanks."

"I always keep a couple of extra bottles with me in the summer. I had almost forgot how hot it gets here."

"So you're from here. Where did you go?" He found he wanted to know absolutely everything about her.

She beamed at him and launched into the story about how she'd left home with dreams of becoming a child psychologist but the deeper she got into her studies, the more she realized that it just wasn't a good fit for her.

She looked up at him in surprise as she heard the D.J. make an announcement.

"This song goes out to Beth. Your mystery man wouldn't say who he was, just said that you were somethin' special'. Well, Beth enjoy this one. We just played it a little while ago but the Dedication Line at 9 is just that, dedicated. Luke Bryan's 'Play it Again'". Beth put her fingers up over her mouth, still unable to contain the tiny squeal as the familiar strains came out of the speakers.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you did that." She hopped down off the bed of that truck smiling like he'd just handed her the moon.

Daryl felt his chest swell just a bit and a feeling of pride wash over him at her wide-eyed expression and he felt lucky to have witnessed her child on Christmas expression twice in one night.

They danced and danced into the night, their laundry forgotten. He twirled her around the grass like he knew what he was doing. She laughed and he laughed. When the slow ones came on, he pulled her back into his arms and he kissed her softly.

Daryl didn't want the night to end, so for now he was going to live in the moment. Later on tonight, he'd play it all over again in his mind and hope like hell he'd get to see her again. Because he had to.

**Okay, that's it. Hope you liked it. Please, though, please no more dental bills from the sweetness of this prompt. It's breaking the bank me getting all these today. I know it was sweet and fluffy and I make no apologies. ;) **


	6. Masterpiece

Daryl paints Beth

Paint me like one of your French girls. Yes a cheesy ripoff from Titanic but I don't care. It's sexy anyway.

Masterpiece

They had been holed up in the bunker for two days waiting for the herd to pass. It was an even bigger herd that the one that trapped them inside the trunk of that car several weeks ago. Sometimes it has hard for Beth to fathom that they had been by themselves as long as they had. They had thought they had found some people a week ago but as it turned out it was a group of men and by listening to them as they huddled in a closet together in the back of a store they were scavenging, it didn't sound like they were anyone they wanted to know anyway.

But here they were on day two of the great migration as Beth had come to call it. The bunker was an odd place. They had found it by happenstance while doubling back to a busted up camper they had passed thirty minutes prior. Rather than to chance going forward, Daryl had looked to Beth and they had wordlessly run back the other direction. They had to have taken a wrong turn somewhere but it worked out okay because this bunker was certainly better than some old run-down motor home. They barely made it inside the bunker just before the herd hit. They had long since stopped listening for sounds of them passing them by. There weren't any windows, so if they wanted to see if it was passed then all they had to do was to look out the odd periscope that was affixed to the side of the bunker.

Daryl had checked it out when they first got down there to make sure it was well ventilated but it seemed to be well equipped and nearly self-sustaining. They, of course, had to improvise on a lot of things but one of Beth's favorite things about being holed up in here was the fact that she could take a bath. She had taken two already solely because she could and there wasn't a whole heck of a lot else to do. Daryl had taken to scratching pencil across paper. He would never show her what he was working on but he had a certain gleam in his eye when he was thinking hard on whatever was on that paper.

He was doing it now in fact while Beth perused an old magazine. It was an ancient People magazine and Leonardo Dicaprio was plastered all over the front cover. "Hey Daryl, you remember that movie Titanic?" She looked up from where she was lounging facedown on the bed across from the sofa. This has become their stance lately. He sat back on the sofa and tittered with his pencil and paper while Beth laid on the bed and alternately flipped through old magazines or some book that she found on the shelf but mostly she watched Daryl. It had become harder and harder not to notice the way he looked at her now. She had noticed the subtle shift right about the time they had arrived at the funeral home. Then they had that conversation about there being good people and how she had changed his mind. She had felt that he was trying to say something else but then the dog had interrupted their meal and their conversation and when he came back in the room, the atmosphere had totally changed. Beth had wanted to bring it up several times but didn't have the nerve.

He was looking at her intently now. "Yeah, I 'member it. I imagine most do. Merle dragged me to see it. You were what five when it came out?" He gave her a wry grin.

Daryl loved teasing her about her age. It never failed to get a rise out of her and he wasn't disappointed this time either, watching her face fire up red and her hands flutter about. "I was younger than that but I remember watching it." She toyed with the necklace she always wore, the two connected gold hearts. She was constantly fiddling with it when she was nervous, he had noticed.

"How old were you when you watched it then?" Daryl decided to let it slide. He didn't need any fresh reminders really of the age difference between him and Beth. He had a hard enough time of that on his own as it was.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I think I watched it about two months before everythin' went bad." She looked at him. "When did you see it?"

It was Daryl's turn to shrug his shoulders. He seemed to do that a lot with her. He hoped she didn't notice it. He would try to make a better effort to talk to her. He'd been promising himself he would anyway. He looked down at his paper and erased for a bit and then changed the shading.

"Daryl?" Beth looked at him quizzically.

"Mmmhhm?" Daryl hummed his response.

"Do you believe in star-crossed lovers?" She put the magazine down and looked at him, studied him. She was bored and starting to get antsy.

He looked up from his paper and put the pencil up to his mouth. He thought about the pact he'd made with himself about talking to her more and had to fight the urge not to shrug his shoulders. Again. "I don't know, never really thought about it I guess." He didn't ask her what she thought. He knew he'd hear it, like it or not. That thought turned the corners of his mouth up just slightly.

"I do." Beth's face emanated certainty, if not a little wistful. "I think sometimes people meet in the strangest of circumstances. Like they weren't even looking for that one person. But then they find them and maybe it's not perfect but they have what time they are supposed to have together. Like Rose and Jack. They didn't get forever but they had what time they had on that ship. They made it last for as long as they could." She sighed and moved her hand from her chest to brush her hair back behind her ear.

Daryl's eyes roved over her. He was enthralled with how small her fingers were. How they came up to delicately tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear, drifting back to her neck. He imagined what it might feel like to hold her hand again like they had in the cemetery. He thought about what it might be like to have her delicate fingers run over his chest. He took a deep breath. Get those thoughts out of your head Dixon.

"Daryl?" her voice was soft now.

He sighed. Endless questions with this one. But it was refreshing too.

"That one part where Jack sketches Rose in just the necklace." Her voice trails off and Daryl meets her eyes his pencil freezing on the paper. She is looking right at him and damn if she isn't fingering that necklace just like the chick in the movie did. If he didn't know any better, he'd think that sweet little Beth Greene was coming on to him. But that was ridiculous, wasn't it? If he was going to dig deep, and let's face it he wouldn't have to look that far, he would admit that he had seen the way she had looked at him. How she had seemed to wake up after that kitchen conversation, the one where he so stupidly was getting ready to lay out his feelings for her. Until the dog had interrupted. If he ever saw that mutt again he'd gladly give up his share of pigs' feet as a thank you for saving his sorry ass from making a damn fool of himself. He had to spend what looked like the rest of his life with her. If he went making it awkward, it was going to make life even more difficult than felling walkers and dispensing with bad guys.

But still she was looking at him now like- well, she was looking at him like no one had ever looked at him before. Like he was something to be desired. Oh sure, women had thrown themselves at him before. But Beth wasn't doing that. She was subtle. She was demure. Looking at her now, taking off her sweater, he thought, she's a damn vixen that's what she was. His eyes met hers and he glanced down at his paper debating on whether or not to show her. He decided he really didn't have anything to lose. He held it out for her to see, the drawing of her he'd been working on all morning. The others were stashed where she couldn't see them.

Beth narrowed her eyes to focus on what Daryl was holding up and she knew her jaw dropped open. There on the paper was a mirror reflection of herself. It was stunning and Beth was amazed. She thought she even looked pretty. She flushed then thinking that Daryl had done this. Daryl. He'd taken such care for detail the way he had shaded everything so perfectly and he had even drawn a braid in her hair. It was a facial portrait. "It's wonderful." She breathed. "Where did you learn to do that?" She had no idea that Daryl could draw or even that he possessed an inkling to do so. It went to show how much you could learn about a person given enough passage of time.

Again, he had to force himself not to shrug his shoulders. "I just started doing it when I was a kid, somethin' I did to pass the time." He smiled at her wryly then. "Kind of like I am now."

She sighed deeply. "We really have nothin' but time huh. Except." She broke off willing herself to stop right there. But he looked at her expectantly so she continued. "We don't really have that much time Daryl, when you think about it. It's just been us for all these weeks. Who knows if we even live out this night?" She paused. "Are you going to finish it?" She looked right into his eyes. She wanted him to draw her suddenly. She wanted it more than anything in this world. She wanted to be like Rose in that movie. She just needed some kind of sign that she wasn't imagining all this with Daryl. The last thing she wanted was to make him retreat back to his old ways like when they had first left the prison. She could take a lot of things but she couldn't take that. Not now.

Daryl couldn't help the shoulder shrug that time. "I dunno. I hadn't thought about it." He looked up at her, met her eyes. Looked into them like he did the night at the funeral home. "Would you want me to?"

Beth decided that was enough. It was hint enough that she wasn't crazy. She nodded. "Will you draw me?" She fingered her necklace. "Wearing this?"

Daryl nodded, his face flushing. He knew what she was going to say next. He nodded even as the words slipped from her lips. "Wearing only this?"

Beth's mouth went dry and she thought she could hear every thought ever uttered in this bunker. Daryl finally almost imperceptibly nodded. "Yeah." She fought against every fiber of her being to ask him something else but she felt that doing so would ruin the moment so she got up from the bed.

She moved her fingers to her blouse and tugged the hem of it up and over her head. Daryl's cock twitched in his pants as he realized that she was not wearing a bra. Her round perky breasts were perfect and he had a hard time reconciling the fact that he was sitting here staring at Beth Greene's tits but he was helpless to turn away. Truth be told he had been dreaming this for weeks now. She had invaded more than one of his dreams as of late.

Beth had never felt more provocative and more erotic than baring her chest to Daryl Dixon. She took that shirt off like it was something that she did for him every day. She couldn't help the natural inclination to arch her back. She liked the feeling she got when she saw his eyes. They had flashed quickly to hers before darting back down and she ran her tongue over her lips, her mouth suddenly bone dry at the thought of him touching her. But he hadn't agreed to that. Yet.

He looked down at his paper and back up at her again. She got nervous for a second that he was going to change his mind and tell her to put her clothes back on. When he didn't, she reached down and pulled her boots off. She never broke eye contact with him one time as she fumbled with the button at the top of her pants, finally freeing it and then sliding the zipper down ever so slowly, shimmying her pants down her legs. She was suddenly insanely happy that she had took the extra time to shave her legs at her last bath.

She stood back up and looked at Daryl who had dropped his pencil. She flashed him a grin as she looped her fingers inside her panties slipping them slowly over her hips and bending at the waist to pull them from her ankles. As she stood back up her eyes met his and her hands fluttered a little nervously at her necklace.

Daryl picked his pencil back up and wondered how in the hell he was going to concentrate on drawing when his cock was throbbing something awful. It was taking everything in him to keep from reaching down and palming it in his hand, anything to relieve the insane amount of pressure that was building up. She looked fucking perfect standing there. He flicked his finger towards the bed and hoped she understood that he wanted her to lie down. He didn't think his mouth would work if he tried. He cleared his throat and looked back to his paper as she positioned herself on the bed, laying her head back against the pillows and crossing her legs at the ankles. Her lips were parted and her eyes had transformed to dark pools of lust. Something wasn't right though. He realized suddenly that it was her hair.

"Take your hair down." His voice was gruff and she nodded at his request, reaching back to pull the hair tie from her hair, letting it fall to the bed and her hair cascading over her shoulders.

"Shall I take out the braid?" She fingered the strand of hair in question.

He shook his head. "Nah, leave it." As much as the perpetual braid bothered him, he had come to think of her with it, just characteristic of her.

Daryl began the sketch again, drawing the sharp angle of her neck and the slope of her shoulder before fleshing out the hard lines of her collar bone, the dip in the hollow of her neck, giving it the right amount of shading. He paused as he got to her breasts and looked up at her again. She was watching him carefully as she ran her hand down over the flat of her tummy and rested it on her hip. He had never been more aroused in his entire life and his fingers had never ached so bad to touch something. He drew the gentle swell of her breasts and as he got to the nipple of her left breast he looked up again, needing to get the shading just right. He erased it three times, sighing in frustration.

Beth was aching with need. Having him study her so openly while she was laid out for him, her body displayed was making her breathless. She clenched her thighs tightly to hopefully relieve some of the pressure, to no avail. She could feel wetness gathering between her legs and she could feel it seeping. She didn't know if he noticed or not but he was deeply intent on his drawing as he erased a few times, glancing up at her periodically. She shifted herself on the bed, knowing the new position gave him a better view below the waist.

Daryl shifted in his chair, trying to adjust his pants without being too obvious and he swallowed as he looked up at her again. She had moved from her original position and the way she was lying now he could clearly see the small triangle of curls. The way the light in the bunker was hitting her, he could see too the evidence of her desire, the telltale wetness mixed in with the curls at the top of her pussy. The thought of her all wet and waiting made him groan unconsciously and he looked at her, helpless with want. He wanted to get up and go to her. She was clearly as turned on as he was. But he wouldn't know the first thing about making a move on her.

Just when he thought he was destined to live out a life with a chronic erection, she cleared her throat. "Come here." It was a whisper. "I know you want to." There was no malice behind her words, just stating a fact and he put the drawing down, laying the pencil on top and standing to his full height. He crossed the room, drawing on a strength he didn't even know he had and sat down next to her on the bed. He wanted her all at once and yet wanted to just stare at her.

"You're fuckin' beautiful, you know that?" He whispered it reverently as he brought one tentative finger to the smooth of her pale, slender shoulder, tracing an imaginary line to her jaw and then her chin. He stilled his hand there, waiting a beat, needing some sign that he wasn't crossing a line here with her. He knew she had asked him to come to her, but it did nothing to squelch the ball of nerves he felt he had just swallowed.

Beth thrilled at his words. He thought she was beautiful? She reached up and curled her fingers around the collar of his shirt, her fingertips grazing the skin at the back of his neck. His hair was still a little damp from the bath she had finally coaxed him into taking.

"Kiss me. Please." She whispered it, her eyes searching his, his lids looking heavier than her own felt.

Daryl was helpless to comply, moving his hand from her jaw to the back of her head as he leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. She parted her lips as they met and he slipped his tongue inside, groaning at the exquisite feeling.

Beth moaned against his mouth and teased his tongue with hers. He shifted on the bed and she heard a thud followed by another and she knew he had kicked his boots off. She sat up and moved her hands to the buttons on his shirt. ""S not fair, you're wearing way more clothes than me." She finished unbuttoning his pants and he stood up to shuck them, leaving him only in his boxers.

He smirked at her. "It wasn't my idea remember."

"You complainin'?" She said saucily.

He growled as he let his boxers fall to the floor and grinned at her as her eyes went wide at the size of his hardened cock. "Hell no." He answered as he laid down beside her.

He had cursed their bad luck when they ran into the herd and had to end up running back to this place. Now he realized that being trapped in here for the past two days might have been the best thing that ever happened to him.

"It's just like in the movie." She breathed, her expression a heady combination of awe and desire.

Daryl snorted. "Nah. Our version will be even better." He didn't know what made him so confident about that but he knew that loving Beth might take more time than they had in this bunker. As he pulled her into his arms, he dipped his head to hers claiming her lips with his and wondering what in the hell he had done in his life to deserve this angel beside him. Here he was in the middle of the goddamn apocalypse finding out that everything he thought about his life didn't matter one bit. The only thing that mattered was right in front of him. Beth. Now it felt like his life was just beginning.


	7. Chapter 7

A nonny mouse gave this to me a long time ago but I knew I couldn't write it until I saw the first episode of the season. Thank you anon for trusting me to write this prompt and I hope it came close to your expectations.

This Living Hell

He couldn't pinpoint it exactly, his internal map of his thoughts had long ago become unreadable. He could detect the signs in front of him sure but navigating the inner workings of his mind was something he was still trying to master. He had never even attempted it before, not until a little sprite of a girl, with white blonde hair wisping about his face prodded him to explore his past and look to the future. He hadn't been able to think a straight thought since. But thinking back on all that led him to the now, he realized just how right she was. He missed her. God, did he ever miss her. There had only ever two women in his life besides his mama; Carol and Beth.

Carol had been his first friend he guessed. He had never had one growing up and Merle could hardly be considered a friend any more than he could a brother on most days. The woman was always on him and it had made him feel like punching the hell out of someone for making him care. About needing to feel needed more than anything he had ever wanted. He'd barely had time to process Rick's banishment when the Governor had shown up with his men and their whole world had been blown to holy hell. After that, he had counted her dead along with the rest. Beth had convinced him that all of them had made it but he had never been all that sure. He wanted to believe and he tried to believe for her. But Carol, no he had stricken all thoughts of ever finding her from his mind. Until that moment he saw her in the woods right after they escaped from the hell reserved for some of the most damnable souls. Jeffrey fucking Dahmer didn't have nothing on those assholes at Terminus. Looking back he guessed they might have all been in shock from all that they had seen.

With all the horrors of their fucked up world, killing walkers and men alike they had seen some of most horrendous, gruesome things but what they had witnessed there. Seeing Carol had ignited something in Daryl, like he had somehow just awoken from the nightmare and he was propelled forward by a force stronger than any indomitable will he possessed and he was suddenly right there with her and she was alive and he was alive. He wasn't dead, his body slumped over a trough like some piece of livestock, his life draining out of him by a deep gash on his neck, pooling down the drain like the poor bastards that had gone before Glenn, himself, Rick and Bob. He had thought then that Bob would be the last. He would be the last and would have to watch the rest of them die.

But instead of the fate that an hour ago had seemed absolute he was standing here and he was holding onto Carol. He slumped against her that second time and he had felt like a dam had burst. He should have been ashamed that he was crying but it had been a long fucking few weeks. He had held it in ever since then; that night that Beth had disappeared. His heart clenched even now and that made him weep even more.

As he pulled away from Carol he couldn't help but compare her arms to Beth's. Carol didn't hold him the same way Beth did. He thought it odd in that moment. They had gone up then and he was amazed to see that Asskicker and Tyreese were alive and well. Watching Rick run towards his baby girl had done something else in Daryl's heart. He had looked at Judith and it almost brought him to his knees the intensity with which he missed Beth. He had missed the hell out of her before that. The missing her was attached to him like a cloak and he wore it like he did most other things, by trying to hide it. But in that moment, he looked at Asskicker and knew she was going to be fine just like Beth had said.

Hadn't she told him?

"We aren't the only ones. We can't be." Her voice was so sure and convincing and if his head hadn't been shoved so far up his ass he might have seen the truth in it. But she'd told him alright and the hell of it was that she was right. She was fucking right all along and he was wrong for not believing her, for not searching harder. He was wrong for losing her. He deserved this. He had earned this dread and loss and despair clutching at his heart threatening to rip its way out of his chest. He had lost her and it was all his fault. This living hell he was forced to exist in was much worse he thought than any realm he might be cast into upon death.

Later he started to harbor resentment. He didn't want to because it seemed that would be going against the grain of the surface of his exterior that Beth had worked so hard sanding to a smoother texture. He knew he'd been a hard ass before but then when she'd called him out on his bullshit and he remembered it clearly, those were her exact words. Bullshit. He'd tried so hard not to feel like it should be someone else, anyone else, missing out on all this besides her, the one person that had believed it could happen; all of them being back together again.

Watching Tyreese and Sasha was a punch to the gut too. He was happy they had found each other. It wasn't that he wasn't happy; he was just sick. Sick that she was missing it. Sick that he was missing her. Maybe most of all because she wasn't there to see that she had worked her way under his skin. That she had finally broken through those walls that he had bricked around his heart. She had changed him when he didn't even know that he needed to. He had done things the same way for so long that he didn't realize there was any other way to do them. He reckoned it came from years spent in a loveless environment with a man who showed his emotions with iron fists and steel-toed boots. If that didn't do you in, then his wickedly sharp tongue could finish the job.

She had been the first person who ever dared to hug him and he hadn't known what to do or whether he was supposed to do anything, but his fingers found their way to her elbow just the same.

That first night away from Terminus, he had fallen asleep only to be thrust into dreams that he hadn't expected. Up to that point it had only part of his waking nightmare, watching the car disappear into the night, shrinking until he no longer even saw the halo of the lights in the pitch of the night. Instead these dreams were filled with her face and the white cross like on the back of that car. He heard his voice in the dream, telling Maggie that she was alive. He could hear himself tell her that he had tried to follow it, he had tried. He didn't tell her how he felt about Beth because he couldn't put that into words if he had tried but he figured she knew all the same. It wasn't anything she said, it was the small smile she sent his way just before she turned to go back to Glenn. But when she'd laid her hand on his arm, for a moment it had reeled him back, thinking how familiar it was to Beth's gentle touch but it still wasn't her.

Those crosses danced all through the dream, mocking him for being too late. For losing her. The symbolism wasn't lost on him with that cross, permanently embedded in his mind, his sin-laden mind. He couldn't help but wonder if he was being punished. He'd woken up then, heart racing, her name on his lips, and his face soaked with the tears that only his subconscious mind could release without all those watchful eyes.

He started awake and looked around. He got up and walked outside where Carol was sitting for her watch. He sniffed and sat down beside her, drawing his knees up and resting his hands on his knees. He wasn't looking for conversation necessarily. He just couldn't be alone with his thoughts and he knew sleep would be lost on him the rest of this night.

She glanced at him and leaned her head down to try to catch his gaze. He looked over at her warily. He didn't know where it came from. He had certainly not come out here to talk about it but it came out of him anyway. "Why'd you kill them?"

Her eyes snapped up to his looking like an errant child. He needed to know why she did it. Not that it mattered now and not that it could bring them back but he needed to know.

Before Carol could open her mouth, they heard a rustling in the woods and it didn't sound like a walker to him. Sounded human. In that instant he had wished he had listened to his gut to continue on their way; put as much distance between them and the place that they had left as they could.

He got up stealthily and Carol did the same. He knew Tyreese was sitting inside the church doors watching from that angle, so he stepped into the woods, following the sounds as well as his general instinct. He lost all trail of whatever or whoever it was about the time that he realized they were nearing a road. They picked their way through the brush and crossed the road. Daryl looked up to see an old mechanic's place a lot of old cars in the parking lot, most of them older model eighties. Piece of cake to hot-wire them. It sure would be a hell of a great thing to have cars to travel in rather than hoofing it everywhere. It was getting mighty cold at night too and he didn't like thinking about Asskicker being cold. He tried not to think about how cold Beth might be wherever she was.

He had just finished hotwiring the old Buick when he saw it. Carol had been waiting by the passenger side and as soon as he saw the flash of black followed by a trail of red halo lights, he had steeled himself and when he saw the white cross he called out for Carol to get in. He had taken off then, not quite believing that the car actually started much less that they were steadily gaining on the black late model Lincoln. His heart thudded heavily in his chest as he got closer and closer and then suddenly the steering wheel stuttered out of his grip at the same time the car shuddered and came to a halt.

"Goddammit!" He screamed. Fucking car was dying. He should have known better. But that car was just like the car that had taken Beth. His fist landed with an altogether satisfying yet agonizing crack against the horn of the car.

Carol had placed her hand on his arm then. "Daryl, shh." She tugged on his arm. "Look at me."

He swung his head around slowly and met her eyes even though it was the last fucking thing he wanted right now. He reached up and ran his head through his too-long hair as he turned his head to look at her.

Sometimes he thought Carol might see down to his fucking soul. He knew she saw it there, how much he missed her, how much he wanted her here with him. He couldn't put it to words but she knew.

"You'll get her back." Her voice was soft but sure.

He shook his head miserably. "I lost her Carol. She was mine to protect and I lost her."

Carol smiled at him. "Yours. Yes, I suppose she is."

He looked at her and swiped his hand across his traitorous eyes, the tears tracing their way down through his scraggly beard for the second time in as many days. "I gotta find her."

She looked back to the road and gestured with her head. "What's this direction?" She looked back at him then.

He looked back and forth between the tree line and the road and glanced in the rearview mirror. "Best as I can tell it's Atlanta." He shook his head and was quick to add. "It's claimed by the dead now though. Ain't no way anything human is living in that city."

Carol nodded. "You might be right." She paused. "Then again you might be wrong. There's only one way to find out."

So they hiked their way back to the church and filled Rick in on their plan. Maggie had wanted to come with but she'd not been feeling well this morning and they had decided to stay in the church one more day.

"I'm going to get her back." He told Maggie and he didn't know where the confidence came from. "I ain't coming back til I do." He guessed Beth had worked her way into his very soul and he was somehow channeling her goodness and faith. Because no way in hell was he coming up with this shit on his own.

Maggie pulled him into her arms then. "I know you will. And if I know my sister, she feels the same way about you that you do her." She pulled away then and smiled at him and he nodded at her, ducking his head his face flushed at the knowledge that she knew.

He knew he'd make good on his word. His father may not have been a man of his word but Daryl meant to change that. Dixons may have been shit in the old world but he was taking a page out of the Beth Greene handbook. He was gonna stay who he was; who she taught him to be. Had taught him it was okay to be. He wasn't going to rest until she was back with her family where she belonged. He hated that she missed the first reunion but when they all met back up next time, she'd be with him and he could watch her then, making her way around to each of them and he'd tell her. He'd be glad to tell her.

She was right. About everything. They were all alive and back together and he missed the hell out of her.

One thing was for sure she'd be wrong about one thing. He could never be the last man standing. Not without her by his side. Beth Greene had become his whole world. And if she wasn't in it, he wasn't sure there would be anything left to stand for. He knew she was alive. He meant to find her. If it was the last thing he did.

If you follow my other stories, I promise I will be updating soon. I am hoping to get Shady updated by Thursday at the latest but hopefully tomorrow and then the rest of them following after that. Thanks for being patient with me as I get used to this being a grown up thing. lol New job is going good but I'm tired. Thanks as always for reading! xoxoxoxoxo


	8. Chapter 8

Warm. That was the feeling he got when he held Beth Greene's hand, her slender fingers and soft palms such a stark contrast to his own world-weary hands. The way she would just reach for his fingers, not even looking at him as if their eyes meeting would make those moments all the more real and maybe it would be too intense for either of them to handle, made the skin over his torso feel like it was too tight all the sudden. His heart clenched every time she would rub her thumb over the back of his hand and he couldn't make sense of the jumbled words tossing about inside his head. Words like "friend" and "girl" just went right out the window and were replaced with scarier ones he couldn't even wrap his brain around. There was one that kept jumping out at him and it had become impossible to ignore lately. Love.

That's what he was starting to think this was. Daryl Dixon had never thought the world held any love for the likes of a dirty redneck like him. This life had not exactly been kind to him. When he thought of how warm his hand, their fingers intertwined together he couldn't help but remember how cold he used to be. Not just since the world went to shit, but way before that; back when him and Merle were kids.

More often than not, there were no lights in his house. Will Dixon was not the sort of man who paid his bills on time. Instead he was the kind that spent his Friday paycheck at the local bar, spending equal amounts of time shooting his mouth off as much as he would shoot pool. Summers weren't so bad if you could put up with the sticky Georgia air that permeated every room of their tiny two bedroom shack at the edge of town.

It was the winters that Daryl could call forth easily in his mind. The cold winter nights that never seemed to end, Daryl shivering alone in his bed and wishing he could crawl in bed with his Ma and let her chase the chill away with her big quilt and soft voice that would lull him back to sleep on the nights that she wasn't so blitzed from her buffet of booze and pills. But if his old man caught him, there was hell to pay and an endless stream of how he was good for nothing; nothin' but a pansy-assed Mama's boy. If he got riled enough, Will Dixon exchanged the sharp edge of his tongue for the dull end of a belt buckle but it cut just as deep.

So most nights, Daryl would lie awake, shivering in the cold and waiting for the sun to warm his face in the morning. As he stood there at that gravestone holding Beth's hand for the 9th time (yes, he'd counted), he felt a warmth creep into his heart and before he could question it, he squeezed her hand maybe to let her know somehow how much it meant to him that she wanted to hold his hand; that she did so freely and often. He kept his eyes trained ahead and so did she, but he felt it a second later, that tiny squeeze back that let him know she understood. She always did.


End file.
